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Pamphlet  300  (10c.  postpaid)  February,  1920 

Nattnnal  QIl|tlb  Slabnr  (EmnmXtttt 

lncorporate^  to  promote  tbe  tntcreets  of  (tbll&rcn 

105    EAST    22D    STREET 

NEW  YORK  CITY 

FARM  LABOR  vs,  SCHOOL  ATTENDANCE 


GERTRUDE  FOLKS 


"The  average  farmer  usually  brings  up  every- 
thing on  the  farm  more  carefully  and  rnore 
successfully  than  his  own  children." 

/.  Mace  Andress. 

Child  Labor  in  Agriculture 

Nearly  18,000,000  children  in  the  United  States  under  15 
years  of  age — 60.7  per  cent — live  in  rural  communities,  i.e.,  those 
having  a  population  of  less  than  2,500.  Nearly  a  million  and  a 
alf,  10  to  15  years  of  age,  inclusive,  are  employed  in  farm  work, 
either  upon  the  home  farm  or  "working  out."  In  other  words, 
about  one-tenth  of  all  the  children  10  to  15  years  old  and  about 
three-fourths  of  this  age  group  who  are  working  are  engaged  in 
agriculture.  Obviously  they  are  recruited  largely  from  the  18,000,- 
000  country  dwellers.  This  group  of  workers,  however,  does  not 
come  tmder  the  scope  of  the  federal  child  labor  law,  and  surprisingly 
little  consideration  has  been  given  to  its  needs.  The  old  idea 
that  farm  labor  is  good  for  children  dies  hard;  outdoor  work  con- 
jures up  visions  of  fresh  air,  sunshine  and  green  fields;  it  is  easy 
to  idealize  it,  to  think  of  the  coimtry  boy  and  girl  as  leading  the 
perfect  life  of  childhood.  Dr.  J.  Mace  Andress  points  out,  how- 
ever, in  Health  Education  in  Rural  Schools,  that  ''contrary  to 
tradition  and  popular  belief  country  children  have  been  foimd  to 
be  as  defective  physically  and  in  many  cases  more  defective  than 
city  children."  But  disregarding  entirely  its  physical  effects, 
there  is  yet  another  sin  for  which  rural  child  labor  must  answer: 
its  interference  with  school  attendance. 

Rural  Illiteracy 

It  is  well  known  that  the  percentage  of  illiteracy  in  the  cotmtry 
is  twice  that  of  cities,  one  in  every  ten  of  the  rural  population  being 


*27l 


4'>60il 


classed  as  illiterate.  It  is  not  so  widely  advertised,  however,  that 
of  the  16  states  having  a  percentage  of  illiteracy  greater  than  that 
of  the  United  States  as  a  whole,  15  have  a  foreign  population  per- 
centage far  below  14.7,  that  of  the  United  States  as  a  whole,  the 
highest  per  cent  in  those  states  being  8.6,  and  the  average  2.9. 
And  even  less  advertised  is  the  fact  that  these  15  states  include  all 
but  one  of  the  13  states  (all  southern  agriculttiral  states)  which 
have  a  child  labor  percentage  in  excess  of  the  average  for  the 
United  States  as  a  whole.  The  parallel  is  striking  and  the  conclu- 
sion obvious.  If  rural  sections,  in  spite  of  a  small  foreign  popu- 
lation, have  a  very  large  percentage  of  illiteracy,  it  is  apparent  that 
country  children  are  not  being  educated;  and  when  we  find  that  in 
these  same  regions,  there  is  a  large  amount  of  child  labor  which 
interferes  seriously  with  school  attendance,  it  is  reasonable  to 
conclude  that  the  work  of  the  children  is  responsible  in  part,  at 
least,  for  the  lack  of  schooling.  It  can  not  be  attributed  entirely 
to  the  inferiority  of  rural  education,  for  even  the  poorest  'little 
red  schoolhouse"  can  train  the  child  to  write — the  test  of  literacy. 

Investigations  by  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee 

These  figures  are  based  on  the  1910  census,  but  the  results 
of  studies  made  by  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee  during 
the  last  four  years  to  determine  the  effect  of  farmwork  upon  educ- 
tion indicate  that  conditions  have  not  materially  changed,  and, 
moreover,  can  not  imtil  adequate  compulsory  attendance  laws  are 
enacted  and  enforced.  Investigations  were  carried  on  in  seven 
states:  North  Carolina  and  Kentucky,  our  two  greatest  tobacco 
growing  states;  Colorado  and  Michigan,  two  of  the  three  states 
leading  in  sugar-beet  production;  Alabama  and  Oklahoma,  two  of 
the  largest  cotton  growing  states,  and  Maryland,  leading  in  straw- 
berry production.  Children  were  engaged,  however,  not  only  in 
the  cultivation  of  the  crops  mentioned,  but  in  all  kinds  of  general 
agricultural  work,  including  plowing,  planting  wheat,  threshing, 
baling  hay,  filling  silos,  cultivating  potatoes,  com  and  other  vege- 
tables, drying  apples,  herding  cattle,  dairying  and  caring  for  live 
stock.  In  each  state  representative  counties  were  chosen  and  the 
selection  of  districts  and  schools  for  intensive  study  was  made  in 
co-operation  with  the  school  authorities.     Six  hundred  and  seventy 

2 


schools  were  visited,  and  attendance  data  for  37,837  children 
gathered.  The  statistical  results  for  all  seven  states  can  not  be 
siunmarized  as  the  investigations  in  Maryland  and  in  Michigan 
were  of  a  more  general  nature  than  those  of  the  five  other  states 
and  the  figures  not  comparable.  In  each  state,  however,  two 
indisputable  facts  stand  forth:  (1)  that  farm  work  interferes  seri- 
ously with  school  attendance,  (2)  that  farmwork  causes  retardation. 

Attendance 

Farmwork  reacts  upon  school  attendance  in  three  ways: 
(1)  it  keeps  children  out  of  school  altogether,  (2)  it  shortens  the 
school  term,  (3)  it  causes  irregular  attendance. 

The  United  States  Bureau  of  Education  reports  that  in  1915 
(the  last  year  for  which  figures  are  available)  there  were  145,891 
children,  10  to  14  years,  not  enrolled  in  any  school,  public,  private 
or  parochial.  Since  over  60  per  cent  of  this  age  group  live  in  dis- 
tinctly rural  regions  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  a  large  number  of  these 
are  country  children.  In  Georgia,  for  instance,  a  distinctly  agri- 
cultural state,  there  were  in  1918,  1,216  white  children  and  4,579 
colored  children  10  to  18  years  of  age  who  had  never  attended  any 
school.^  The  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  of  North 
Dakota  characterizes  as  "a  disgrace  to  any  state"  the  withdrawal 
of  farm  children  from  school — in  North  Dakota  only  30  per  cent 
finish  the  8th  grade,  and  four  per  cent  the  12th  grade.^  The  State 
Superintendent  of  Virginia  writes  in  a  similar  vein,  **The  number 
of  children  in  Virginia  who  are  now  not  attending  school  at  all,  and 
the  nttmber  who  are  attending  school  with  such  irregularity  as  to 
make  proper  training  impossible,  forms  an  alarming  per  cent  of  the 
total  number  of  children.'" 

In  the  studies  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee  it  was 
impossible  to  secure  data  for  all  those  not  enrolled  in  school,  but 
enough  instances  were  followed  up  to  confirm  the  conclusion  reached 
by  the  Juvenile  Court  of  Weld  County,  Colorado,  in  an  investiga- 
tion of  the  schools  of  that  county,  that  the  reasons  which  cause  a 
child  to  leave  school  are,  on  the  whole,  the  same  as  those  which 


*  Forty-seventh  A  nnual  Report  of  the  Department  of  Education,  1918. 
^Report  of  Stale  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  North  Dakota,  1917-18. 
^Report  of  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  Virginia,  1917-18. 


keep  him  out  part  of  the  time.  In  Kentucky,  while  taking  school 
records,  the  investigators  learned  of  170  white  children  attending 
no  school  whatever.  In  Colorado  several  families  were  found  whose 
children  were  not  in  school  and  had  no  intention  of  going.  One 
family,  visited  four  months  after  the  beginning  of  school,  had 
six  children,  the  oldest  16,  none  of  whom  had  enrolled,  although 
the  schoolhouse  was  less  than  one  and  one-half  miles  from  their 
home.  The  father  owned  his  farm  of  76  acres,  and  had  lived 
there  for  20  years;  yet  the  whole  family  was  so  poorly  educated 
as  to  be  almost  illiterate.  In  Michigan,  fully  15  per  cent  of  the 
children  of  the  133  ''beet  families"  interviewed  had  never  attended 
school  in  America.  These  families  are  migratory,  moving  from 
place  to  place,  often  from  state  to  state  as  the  demand  for  agri- 
cultural labor  varies.  No  one  is  responsible  for  the  attendance 
of  the  children,  and  they  evade  the  compulsory  education  laws. 

The  school  term  in  the  country  is  shorter  than  that  in  cities. 
In  a  comparison  of  rural  and  urban  statistics  made  in  1912,  the 
Bureau  of  Education  reported  that  the  average  term  in  urban 
communities  was  46.4  days  (over  two  months)  longer  than  the  aver- 
age for  rural  communities.  The  actual  difference  between  the  term 
in  city  schools  and  in  country  schools  is  even  greater,  for  the  above 
figures  include  in  "rural  commimities"  towns  with  a  population  of 
2,500  or  less,  although  the  school  term  in  such  towns  approximates 
that  of  the  cities  more  nearly  than  that  of  the  coimtry  regions. 
This  condition  is  usually  attributed  to  the  difficulty  of  raising  funds 
in  the  country.  Another  factor  enters  in,  however — the  tendency 
in  many  rural  districts  to  subordinate  education  to  farm  work. 
The  compulsory  education  law  of  Georgia,  for  instance,  empowers 
the  city,  town  and  county  boards  of  education  to  excuse  children 
temporarily  from  attendance,  and  expressly  authorizes  them  "to 
take  into  consideration  the  seasons  for  agricultural  labor  and  the 
need  of  such  labor  in  exercising  their  discretion  as  to  the  time  for 
which  children  in  farming  districts  shall  be  excused."^  Schools 
in  Michigan  frequently  declare  "beet  vacations"  in  the  late  fall. 
In  the  cotton-growing  sections  of  Oklahoma  the  schools  open  as 
late  as  December  and  even  the  beginning  of  January.  Stmimer 
sessions  are  sometimes  held  to  make  up  for  the  lost  time,  but  as  the 


^Georgia  School  Code,  1919,  Art.  XI,  Sec.  171. 

4 


state  superintendent  points  out  in  his  last  report,  this  is  unsatis- 
factory. It  frequently  means  a  change  in  teacher,  the  weather  is 
hot,  attendance  small  and  irregular,  and  interest  at  a  very  low  ebb.^ 
The  same  thing  is  true  in  the  beet-growing*  regions  of  Colorado — 
in  one  section  the  schools  opened  November  29,  and  closed  May  1, 
a  term  of  only  five  months  (less  than  the  very  low  minimum  re- 
quired to  entitle  a  state  to  receive  federal  aid  under  the  proposed 
Smith-TowTier  bill) .  To  shorten  the  school  term  in  accordance  with 
the  requirements  of  the  farm  is  manifestly  imfair — it  not  only  per- 
mits children  to  miss  school;  it  obliges  them  to. 

The  most  serious  effect  of  farm  labor,  however,  and  the  one 
which  has  been  made  the  special  point  of  the  National  Child  Labor 
Committee's  investigations,  is  the  amoimt  of  absence  which  it 
causes.  Children  enter  late  in  the  fall,  and  leave  early  in  the 
spring;  even  during  the  winter  months  they  are  absent  from  time 
to'^tmie  to  help  on  the  farm. 

The  State  Superintendent  of  Education  of  South  Carolina 
reports  that  during  March,  April  and  May  attendance  is  very 
irregular,  and  that  the  same  thing  is  true  during  the  fall  months. 
"In  many  schools  during  October  and  the  early  part  of  November 
and  during  the  months  of  April  and  May  not  half  of  the  children 
enrolled  will  be  found  present  any  day.  .  .  .  When  inquiry  is  made 
by  teachers  and  other  school  officers  as  to  the  reason  for  the  poor 
attendance  in  the  early  fall  and  late  spring  the  answer  is  almost 
invariably  the  necessity  of  gathering  and  planting  the  cotton  crop."* 

Wheat  raising  in  North  Dakota  has  the  same  effect  upon 
school  attendance  as  does  cotton  raising  in  the  Carolinas.  The  last 
report  of  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  stated  that 
an  average  of  at  least  20,000  farm  children  stay  out  of  school  each 
year  for  a  period  of  60  days  to  help  in  raising  wheat  and  other  small 
grain  products.'  The  remedy  suggested  by  the  state  superin- 
tendent— changing  the  school  calendar  year  from  September  1st 
to  June  1st  to  October  1st  to  July  1st — would  only  partially  solve 
the  problem  of  two  months  absence  for  farmwork. 


^Seventh  Biennial  Report,  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction, 
Oklahoma,  1918. 

^  Fifteenth  Annual  Report,  Superintendent  of  Education,  South  Carolina,  1918. 

'  Fifteenth  Biennial  Report,  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction,  North 
Dakota,  1918. 


In  Colorado  the  local  school  authorities  of  counties  in  the  sugar- 
beet  growing  section  estimated  that  4,841  children  between  the 
ages  of  6  and  15  miss  from  two  to  twenty-two  weeks  of  school, 
with  an  average  of  nine  and  a  half  weeks,  because  of  work  in  the 
fields.  In  one  school,  four  rooms  were  reserved  for  beet  workers, 
but  when  the  school  opened  only  30  children  enrolled.  This  nimiber 
soon  dropped  to  21,  the  third  month  there  were  58  children,  and  the 
fourth  125.  The  Juvenile  Court  of  Weld  Coimty  as  the  result 
of  their  investigation  referred  to  above,  concluded  that  "by  far  the 
most  of  the  children  who  are  withdrawn  from  school  to  work  are 
foimd  on  the  farms."  In  Michigan  beet  fields  similar  conditions 
were  found.  One-third  of  the  children  lost  three  entire  months 
in  the  spring  term  alone,  and  these  are  the  same  children  who  will 
enter  late  in  the  fall. 

The  Montana  School  Bulletin,  published  by  the  State  Depart- 
ment of  Public  Instruction,  discusses  at  length  this  same  problem 
in  its  issue  for  December,  1919.  * 'Unquestionably  the  largest 
proportion  of  children  who  are  irregular  in  attendance  at  school  are 
out  to  work.  It  is  customary  for  hundreds  of  fanners,  especially, 
to  keep  their  children  at  home  for  several  weeks  in  the  fall  and  again 
in  the  spring  when  the  spring  worjc  begins.  The  most  flagrant  cases 
are  among  sugar-beet  workers  who  are  mostly  foreigners,  but  many 
American  parents  are  using  the  labor  of  children  in  order  to  run 
their  ranches."  Attendance  records  covering  a  period  of  three 
years  were  given  for  eight  children  from  beet-workers'  families — 
these  children  had  missed  an  average  of  242  school  days  during  this 
period  and  had  attended  an  average  of  258  days — only  86  days  a  year. 

The  tobacco  industry  plays  the  same  havoc  in  Kentucky. 
On  one  farm  two  boys,  9  and  11  years  of  age,  were  helping  their 
father;  the  school  had  been  in  session  for  only  74  days,  and  they 
had  already  missed  45  and  25  days  respectively  for  farmwork. 
In  another  family  the  10-year-old  son  was  absent  51  out  of  74  days 
in  the  first  four  months  of  the  school  year.  In  another  family, 
very  comfortably  situated,  the  7,  8  and  12-year  old  girls  and  the 
10-year  old  boy  all  worked  in  the  tobacco  field  instead  of  attending 
school.  Their  father  said,  'That's  the  advantage  of  the  tobacco 
crop — every  child  is  a  hand." 

In  Maryland,  the  attendance  records  of  585  children  in  15 
schools  were  studied.      Only  305,  slightly  more  than  one-half  of 

6 


w 


these  children,  had  entered  the  first  week;  50  more  entered  the 
second  week,  and  64  the  third.  An  effort  was  made  to  ascertain 
the  reasons  for  late  entrance,  and  of  the  132  cases  in  which  infor- 
mation was  secured,  97  or  73  per  cent  reported  that  they  stayed 
out  to  work,  chiefly  on  farms  and  in  canneries.  These  children 
were  all  between  9  and  15  years  of  age.  A  school  with  a  normal 
enrollment  of  33  opened  in  the  fall  with  nine  pupils;  another 
with  52  normally  enrolled,  had  18  the  first  week;  another  had  17 
of  its  usual  enrollment  of  40.  In  the  spring,  when  the  strawberry 
season  comes,  the  situation  is  even  worse.  One  county  superin- 
tendent received  a  complaint  from  a  rural  teacher  that  most  of  her 
pupils  would  not  take  their  final  examinations  because  they  were 
out  picking  strawberries.  In  another  coimty  eight  schools  had 
closed  two  or  three  weeks  ahead  of  time  because  most  of  the  children 
had  dropped  out  to  pick  berries.  Fifty  per  cent  of  the  children 
in  one  school  dropped  out  in  March  and  April;  in  another  (out  of 
a  total  enrollment  of  30)  one  girl  was  left  at  the  time  of  the  investi- 
gation; the  rest  were  all  picking  berries.  In  still  another  school, 
with  an  enrollment  of  38,  sixteen  had  withdrawn  between  Febru- 
ary 17  and  April  16.  Again,  an  effort  was  made  to  secure  informa- 
tion regarding  the  reasons  for  withdrawal,  and  of  90  cases,  62 — 
nearly  70  per  cent — gave  farmwork  as  the  only  cause. 

Attendance  records  for  about  23,000  children  were  taken  in 
Colorado,  Kentucky,  Oklahoma,  North  Carolina  and  Alabama, 
showing  the  ntmiber  of  days  missed  by  each  child  and  the  reasons 
for  absence.  On  the  basis  of  these  figiires,  the  children  were  divided 
into  four  classes:  those  who  had  been  absent  at  all  for  farmwork 
were  classed  as  ''farm  workers;"  those  absent  for  any  other  reason, 
such  as  housework,  illness,  distance,  indifference,  etc.,  were  classed 
as  "other  absentees;"  those  who  had  moved  in  or  out  of  the  district 
during  the  school  session  were  classed  as  "migrants;"  those  who  had 
been  present  every  day  were  classfed  as  "daily  attendants."  Exclud- 
ing daily  attendants  and  migrants  (regarding  whom  information 
could  not  be  secured  for  the  entire  school  term)  a  total  of  20,100 
children  was  left  of  whom  8,835  were  farm-workers.  It  was  found 
that  farm-workers  had  missed  at  the  time  of  the  investigation 
an  average  of  36  days  (about  seven  school  weeks);  and  other 
absentees  had  missed  only  23  days  (about  five  weeks);  further- 
more,  the  farm-workers  had  been  absent  36.2  per  cent  of  the 

7 


period  the  school  had  been  in  session  at  the  time  the  records  were 
taken,  as  compared  with  only  24.7  per  cent  for  other  absentees. 
These  figures  are  conservative.  In  order  to  have  personal  inter- 
views with  the  children  and  the  teacher  to  determine  the  cause 
for  absence,  it  was  necessary  to  visit  the  schools  before  the  end 
of  the  term,  and  the  absence  for  work  in  the  late  spring  was  not 
included. 

Irregular  attendance  is  a  loss  not  only  to  the  children  whose 
school  term  is  shortened  but  to  the  entire  group  of  children  in  the 
school.  The  following  statement  from  the  Annual  Report  of  the 
>J  State  Department  of  Education  of  South  Carolina  is  applicable  to 
all  agricultural  commimities.  ''^pr  the  first  two  months  in  the  fall 
each  teacher  is  constantly  adjusting  and  readjusting  his  classes  to 
meet  the  needs  of  the  late  comers.  The  pupils  who  could  make 
rapid  progress  because  of  their  full  and  regular  attendance  are  con- 
stantly being  retarded  because  of  the  earnest  efforts  of  the  teacher 
to  promote  the  progress  of  the  irregular  attendants.  After  four 
years  of  close  observation  of  cotmtry  school  conditions  the  writer 
feels  that  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  in  the  average  cotmtry 
school  the  pupils  who  attend  regularly  for  the  full  session  do  not 
accomplish  more  than  two-thirds  the  work  they  would  accom- 
plish on  accoimt  of  the  non-attendance  of  so  many  children  in  the 
early  fall  and  late  spring.  "^ 

The  irregularity  of  the  attendance  of  farm-workers  is  reflected 
directly  in  their  scholarship.  The  State  Department  of  Public 
Instruction  of  Michigan  has  just  completed  a  study  of  retardation 
among  25,218  children  in  rural  schools  in  nine  counties.  Of  these 
children  29.2  per  cent  were  found  to  be  retarded,  and,  based  on  the 
judgment  of  the  teacher  in  each  case,  over  75  per  cent  of  these  child- 
ren were  retarded  because  of  frequent  change  of  schools  and  irregular 
attendance.  These  two  factors  are  operative  to  a  high  degree 
among  the  children  of  beet-workers'  families,  and  the  National  Child 
Labor  Committee's  study  showed  that  only  28  per  cent  of  these 
children  were  in  their  normal  grades;  the  remaining  72  per  cent 
were  retarded.  In  one  school  in  Maryland,  7.5  per  cent  of  the 
children  were  ahead  of  their  normal  grade,  42.5  per  cent  were 
normal  and  50  per  cent  were  retarded.     Those  ahead  had  all  entered 


^Fifteenth  Annual  Report  of  the  State  Superintendent  of  Education,  South 
Carolina,  1918. 


the  first  week  in  September  and  had  good  attendance  recx)rds.  Of 
those  retarded,  only  one-fourth  had  entered  when  the  school  opened 
in  September,  the  remainder  coming  in  from  three  to  ten  weeks 
late,  and  one-half  had  left  before  the  term  had  been  completed. 
The  Juvenile  Court  of  Weld  County,  Colorado,  reported  that  of 
the  2,078  cases  of  retardation  examined,  53.0  per  cent  of  the  retarda- 
tion was  attributable  to  farmwork;  and  that  of  the  1,410  retarded 
pupils  who  had  been  absent  for  more  than  half  of  the  term,  79.5 
per  cent  of  the  retardation  was  due  wholly  or  in  part  to  work  in  the 
fields.  Their  conclusions  were:  (1)  That  the  greatest  single  causa- 
tion of  retardation  is  irregular  attendance;  (2)  that  the  greatest 
causation  of  irregular  attendance  is  the  withdrawal  of  children  to 
work  upon  the  farm. 

The  Montana  School  Bulletin,  referred  to  above  also  points 
out  the  effect  of  irregular  attendance  on  retardation: 

"Out  of  27  children  enrolled  last  year  in  one  school 
in  a  section  where  the  majority  of  children  are  kept  at 
home  to  work  diiring  the  beet-harvesting  season  and 
at  other  times  when  farm  and  home  work  is  heavy,  14 
children  were  from  one  to  three  years  behind  their 
grades.  One  family  of  six  children,  ages  ranging  from 
6  to  18  years,  had  in  1913-14  a  total  absence  record 
of  368  days  in  a  school  term  of  150  days.  With  such  a 
record  of  attendance  it  is  not  strange  that  five  out  of 
the  six  children  were  from  one  to  four  years  behind 
their  grades." 

An  inspector  of  rural  schools  in  Louisiana  reported  that  the 
children  could  not  pass  the  simple  tests  given  them.  **A  nimiber 
of  fifth -grade  pupils  could  not  add,  more  of  them  could  not  multi- 
ply; the  time  required  for  these  operations  was  on  an  average  more 
than  twice  as  long  as  it  should  be,  and  the  percentage  of  inaccuracy 
deplorable,  while  the  situation  with  reference  to  skill  in  the  use 
of  pimctuation  marks  parallels  that  in  arithmetic,"  and  the  in- 
spector placed  first  in  his  explanation  of  this  poor  scholarship, 
the  irregularity  of  attendance  in  former  years.  It  is  also  signifi- 
cant that  in  the  one  parish  (local  unit)  in  which  the  compulsory 
attendance  law  was  being  rigidly  enforced,  the  records  of  the 
pupils  were  much  better  than  in  any  other  parish  visited.^ 


^ Field  Force  Report,  November,  1917. 

9 


The  studies  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee  in  North 
Carolina,  Alabama,  Kentucky,  Oklahoma  and  Colorado,  point 
to  the  same  conclusions.  Excluding  migrants  (for  whose  retarda- 
tion change  in  locality  is  in  part  responsible),  age  and  grade  records 
were  secured  for  16,806  children.  On  an  exceedingly  liberal 
gradation  basis — the  three-year  basis — 56.4  per  cent  of  farm- 
workers 9  to  15  years  of  age  were  retarded,  as  compared  with 
only  34  per  cent  of  all  others.  Of  those  retarded,  28.7  per  cent 
of  the  farm-workers  were  retarded  at  least  three  years  as  compared 
with  only  20  per  cent  for  non-farm-workers,  and  only  1.1  per  cent 
of  farm- workers  were  ahead  of  their  grade  as  cdhipared  with  4.6 
among  non-farm-workers.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  per 
cent  of  retardation  steadily  increases  as  the  child  becomes  of  an 
age  to  work  on  the  farm,  rising  in  the  case  of  farm-workers  from 
29.2  per  cent  among  9  year  olds  to  86.9  per  cent  among  15  year 
olds,  and  from  18.1  to  70  per  cent  among  all  others. 


Promotion 

It  is  not  surprising  that  farm- workers  are  frequently  ''left 
back,"  in  many  cases  as  a  direct  result  of  their  absence  for  work. 
A  child  can  not  be  expected  to  complete  in  five  or  six  months  of 
irregular  attendance  a  course  of  study  intended  for  seven  or  eight 
months  of  daily  attendance.  In  Alabama,  for  instance,  two 
children  of  15  years  in  the  fifth  grade  were  not  promoted — they 
had  missed  43  and  52  days  respectively  to  work  on  the  farm. 
In  another  school  a  15-year-old  child  was  foimd  in  the  fourth 
grade.  This  child  had  missed  for  farmwork  83  of  the  116  days 
the  school  had  been  held,  and  was  not  to  be  promoted.  In  another 
school  four  children  (9,  10,  12  and  13  years)  were  all  in  the  first 
grade,  and  were  to  remain  there — they  had  each  been  absent 
70  days,  exactly  one-half  of  the  time  the  school  had  been  in  session ; 
the  school  was  to  be  held  three  or  four  weeks  longer,  but  they 
were  going  to  drop  out  for  farmwork.  Another  14-year-old  child 
in  the  second  grade  had  been  present  for  ten  days,  and  absent  85 
for  farmwork.  In  three  states.  North  Carolina,  Alabama  and 
Oklahoma,  information  was  secured  with  regard  to  the  promotion 
of  all  children  whose  attendance  record  was  taken,  and  it  was  found 

10 


that  there  were  10  per  cent  more  failures  among  farm-workers 
than  among  all  other  absentees.  (Daily  attendants  whose  record 
is  uniformly  high  were  excluded.) 

Influence  of  Land  Tenure 

From  30  to  40  per  cent  of  the  farms  in  the  North  Central 
States,  and  from  50  to  65  per  cent  of  the  farms  in  the  South, 
are  operated  by  tenant  farmers.^  During  the  course  of  its 
agricultural  studies,  the  Committee  became  convinced  that  the 
children  of  this  tenant  class  were  not  getting  a  ''square  deal"  and 
that  they  suffered  to  a  greater  degree  the  ill  effects  of  farm  labor  than 
did  the  children  of  families  who  owned  their  farms.  Consequently 
in  the  last  three  investigations  (in  Oklahoma,  North  Carolina  and 
Alabama),  wherever  possible  the  home  tenure  of  the  child  was 
ascertained.  Excluding  migrants,  this  information  was  seciu*ed  for 
13,069  children  of  whom  5,410  were  from  tenants'  families.  It 
was  found  that  among  tenants'  children  farm-Workers  missed 
39.1  per  cent  of  the  school  term,  as  compared  with  31.3  per  cent 
for  the  farm -workers  of  owners'  families;  and  that  they  had  missed 
on  the  average  42.9  days,  as  compared  with  34.5  days  for  owners' 
children.  For  the  entire  tenants'  children  group,  an  average  of 
of  39^  days  (35.7  per  cent  of  the  term)  was  missed,  as  compared 
with  29.0  days  (25.8  per  cent  of  the  term)  for  owners'  children. 
Again  the  effect  of  irregular  attendance  is  evidenced  in  retardation; 
58.4  per  cent  of  tenants'  children  were  retarded,  as  compared  with 
41.1  per  cent  for  owners'  children,  and  49.5  per  cent  (nearly  one-half) 
of  tenants'  children  failed  to  be  promoted  as  compared  with  36.1 
per  cent  for  owners'  children. 

The  higher  percentage  of  retardation  among  tenants'  children 
is  due,  not  to  mental  inferiority,  but  to  their  greater  amount  of 
absence  from  school  for  farmwork.  It  is  to  be  expected  that 
poverty  among  tenants  will  be  more  acute  than  among  owners, 
for  their  labor  must  not  only  furnish  a  living  for  their  own  family, 
but  must  make  the  farm  yield  a  profit  to  its  owners.  They  have 
to  economize  to  the  utmost,  and  can  not  afford  to  hire  outside  help. 
Undoubtedly  their  need  is  great;   whether  this  explains  the  absence 


^  Ellwood  P.  Cubberley,  Public  Education  in  the  United  States,  page  348. 

11 


from   school  of  their  children  or  whether  it  justifies  it   will  be 
considered  later. 

Migrants 

The  child  of  the  migrant  agricultural  worker  fares  even  worse. 
Like  the  child  of  the  tenant  farmer  his  attendance  is  irregular  and 
subject  to  the  need  for  help  on  the  farm.  But  very  often  he  does 
not  attend  at  all — it  is  easier  for  him  to  follow  the  line  of  least 
resistance  and  stay  out  of  school  than  to  make  continual  readjust- 
ments to  new  surroimdings,  new  methods  of  instruction  and  new 
teachers.  Statistics  with  regard  to  migrants'  children  were  gathered 
in  three  of  the  investigations  (Alabama,  North  Carolina  and  Okla- 
homa). It  was  impossible  to  secure  information  with  regard  to  the 
absence  of  the  children  before  they  moved  into  the  district,  and  the 
records  of  their  attendance  while  in  the  district  did  not  iildicate  a 
greater  percentage  of  absence  than  among  "farm-workers."  There 
was,  however,  a  striking  increase  in  the  amotmt  of  retardation — 
62.7  per  cent  of  migrants  9  to  15  years  of  age  inclusive  were 
retarded,  and  only  .7  per  cent  ahead  of  their  grade.  The  educa- 
tion of  the  child  of  the  habitual  migrant  is  a  difficult  problem. 
When  the  family  moves  from  state  to  state,  the  child  does  not  come 
under  the  attendance  law  of  any;  and  even  the  child  whose  family 
migrates  from  one  place  to  another  in  the  same  state  is  not .  in- 
cluded in  the  census,  and  consequently  seldom  has  the  attendance 
law  invoked  against  him.  These  children  constitute  an  entire  class 
not  reached  by  our  educational  laws — a  class  not  small  in  ntmibers, 
nor  concentrated  in  any  one  section.  They  are  found  throughout 
the  coimtry — in  the  cranberry  bogs  of  New  Jersey,  the  beet  fields 
of  Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  the  canneries  of  New  England  and 
of  the  Eastern  and  Southern  states,  the  berry  fields  of  Delaware 
and  Maryland,  in  general  agricultural  work  in  Western  and  Central 
New  York — practically  wherever  farmwork,  with  its  seasonal 
requirements,  is  carried  on.  The  National  Child  Labor  Committee, 
a  few  years  ago,  made  a  study  of  300  Baltimore  families.  From 
May  to  July  they  had  picked  peas  and  strawberries  in  the  country 
regions  near  Baltimore;  August  to  October,  they  had  worked  in 
the  tomato  and  com  factories  of  Maryland  and  Delaware,  and  100 
families  had  spent  the  winter,  from  October  to  April,  in  the  Southern 
oyster  and  shrimp  canneries.     With  the  frequent  changes,  the  time 

12 


consumed  in  travel,  the  inclination  to  utilize  child  labor  in  all  of 
these  industries — what  chance  had  the  children  of  these  families 
to  secure  any  schooling  whatever? 

Conclusion 

1.     Enforcement  of  Compulsory  Attendance  Laws 

If  the  chief  argument  against  the  work  of  children  in  the  fields 
is  its  interference  with  education,  it  is  through  the  schools  that  it 
must  be  combated.  The  eradication  of  child  labor  in  agriculture 
will  not  come  through  prohibitive  enactment ;  it  must  be  incidental 
to  an  extension  of  the  school  term  and  a  strict  enforcement  of 
adequate  compulsory  attendance  laws.  That  this  is  feasible,  even  in 
regions  where  farm-work  makes  the  most  demands,  is  demonstrated 
by  the  experience  of  a  county  superintendent  of  schools  in  a  beet 
growing  section  of  Montana.  She  reported  to  the  state  super- 
intendent that  she  had  been  successful  in  keeping  the  children  in 
school,  and  explained  her  method: 

''Last  year  these  people  were  all  visited  and  written 
to  either  by  the  teachers  or  myself  or  both  and  were  told 
that  if  they  took  contracts  this  year  that  required  the 
entire  family  to  get  out  the  beets  it  would  be  their 
loss  as  we  would  insist  on  the  children  being  in 
school  and  would  not  hesitate  to  prosecute.  We  sent 
out  a  few  letters  and  had  an  article  published  in  both 
coimty  papers  urging  every  one  in  the  commimity  to 
constitute  himself  a  committee  of  one  to  see  that  all 
children  were  in  school  and  report  to  my  office  any 
that  were  not.  As  a  result  not  a  child  in  that  district 
so  far  has  been  kept  out  for  beet-work." 

This  community  stands  forth  as  an  exception,  however,  not 
only  in  Montana  but  in  the  country  as  a  whole,  for  at  present, 
lenient  as  the  attendance  laws  are  in  most  states,  they  are  a  dead 
letter  in  rural  districts.  Enforcement  is  usually  left  in  the  hands  of 
local  authorities,  and  they  are  unwilling  to  prosecute  their  neighbors. 
In  Louisiana,  the  rural  school  supervisors  report  time  and  time 
again  that  no  effort  is  being  made  to  enforce  the  compulsory  at- 
tendance law  in  the  districts  visited.  In  North  Carolina,  of  144 
schools  visited,  50  made  no  provision  whatever  to  keep  the  children 

13 


in  school  for  four  months — the  period  at  that  time  required  by  law. 
Parents  are  indifferent,  if  not  hostile,  and  can  not  be  suddenly- 
converted  to  giving  up  the  assistance  of  their  children  for  what 
seems  to  them  as  vague  and  impractical  an  idea  as  ''education." 
One  father  frankly  stated  that  his  boy  was  worth  $1,000  for  work 
during  the  beet  season,  but  was  nothing  but  an  expense  if  he  went 
to  school. 

2.     Economic  Value  of  Education 

There  are — as  in  any  child  labor  field — two  classes  of  families 
to  be  considered.  There  are  those  who  do  not  need  the  assistance 
of  their  children,  but  who  nevertheless  allow  and  encourage  them 
to  stay  away  from  school  and  work.  This  class  constitutes  a  large 
majority.  A  Colorado  family  who  boasted  that  they  made  $10,000 
from  their  farm  the  preceding  year  were  allowing  their  two  children, 
7  and  11  years  of  age,  to  work  in  the  beet  fields  during  the  school 
hours.  Another  family  consisting  of  the  father,  mother  and  two 
girls,  9  and  10  years,  worked  40  acres  of  beets,  although  they  own 
a  good  home  elsewhere  in  the  state.  They  board  it  up  for  half  a 
year,  and  live  in  a  shack  "in  the  beets."  Another  prosperous 
farmer  who  owns  more  than  200  acres  of  valuable  land,  nevertheless 
keeps  his  6,  8  and  10-year-old  children  out  of  school  to  work  in 
the  beet  fields.  The  school  superintendents  of  three  counties 
in  Maryland  stated  that  in  their  opinion  most  of  the  families  who 
withdraw  their  children  from  school  to  work  in  the  fields  could 
easily  afford  to  send  them  to  school  for  the  entire  term,  and  either 
to  get  along  without  extra  help  or  to  hire  men  for  the  work  they 
How  do. 

There  are  some,  however,  so  crushed  by  poverty  that  they 
do  actually  depend  upon  the  work  of  the  children  for  the  support 
of  the  family.  This  should  not  be  so;  it  is  a  short-sighted  as  well 
as  an  unjust  policy  to  cripple  the  future  of  children  because  of 
present  economic  necessity.  '  I^  forced  to  do  without  the  help  of 
the  children  either  the  families  would  receive  other  assistance  (such 
as  scholarships  or  mothers'  pensions),  or  the  conditioiis  creating 
the  poverty  would  be  ameliorated. 

In  farming,  as  in  all  other  industry,  education  pays,  and  it  is 
only  fair  to  the  child  to  give  him  this  start  for  the  future.  The 
Missouri  College  of  Agriculture  made  a  study  of  656  farms  in  one 

14 


county.  Of  these  554  were  operated  by  men  who  had  received 
a  district  school  education,  only;  the  remaining  102  by  men  who 
had  gone  beyond  the  district  school.  It  was  found  that  the  better 
educated  farmers  operated  33  per  cent  more  land;  they  owned 
four-fifths  of  the  land  they  operated  as  compared  with  three-fifths 
owned  by  those  with  only  a  district  school  education;  they  kept 
one-sixth  more  live  stock;  worked  14  per  cent  more  land  per  work- 
man; and  earned  77  per  cent  more  labor  income  per  year.  The 
report  concludes:  "While  other  factors  may  have  played  some 
part  in  his  greater  earning  capacity,  yet  from  a  careful  study  of 
the  organization  of  his  business,  it  appears  that  education  must 
have  played  a  very  large  part  in  his  greater  earning  ability."  A 
similar  study  was  made  in  Indiana  among  tenant  farmers,  and  the 
size  of  the  farm,  average  capital  and  average  income  were  directly 
proportional  to  the  amount  of  education  received.  Cornell  Uni- 
versity conducted  another  investigation  of  this  kind  in  an  up-state 
New  York  County.  They  foimd  that  of  1,303  farmers,  1,007 
(77  per  cent)  had  received  a  district  school  education,  only;  210 
(12  per  cent)  a  high  school  education  and  16  (one  per  cent)  a 
college  education.  Here  again  the  increase  in  labor  income  corres- 
ponded to  the  amount  of  education  of  the  farmer.  A  comparison 
was  also  made  between  the  average  labor  income  returned  on 
stated  amoimts  of  capital  to  farmers  with  a  district  school  education 
only  and  to  those  who  had  received  more  education.  In  each 
case  the  farmer  with  the  poorer  education  received  a  smaller  return, 
varying  from  48  to  87  per  cent  of  that  received  by  those  with  more 
education.  This  same  investigation  showed  that  only  17  per  cent 
of  the  tenant  farmers  had  received  more  than  a  district  school 
education,  as  compared  with  30  per  cent  of  owners. 

3.     Reorganization  of  Rural  Schools 

If  we  are  to  keep  the  (arm-  boy  and  girl  in  school  we  must 
do  more  than  hold  out  a  promise  of  increased  earnings  in  the 
future.  It  is  a  characteristic  of  childhood  to  live  in  the  present, 
and  we  must  provide  a  type  of  education  that  will  make  children 
consciously  desire  to  remain  in  school  because  the  work  interests 
them.  The  Educational  Committee  of  The  First  National  Country 
Life  Conference,  held  in   1919,  simimarizing  the  suggestions  that 

15 


/ 


4 


have  been  made  from  time  to  time  by  various  individuals  and 
organizations  interested,  recommended  a  readjustment  of  rural 
education  to  include  training  for  health,  citizenship,  life  occupa- 
tion and  leisure.  A  great  impetus  to  such  a  revision  has  been 
given  by  the  Smith-Hughes  Act,  passed  in  1917,  under  which 
federal  aid  is  granted  to  states  for  agricultural,  industrial  and  home 
economics  education  and  for  the  training  of  teachers  of  these  sub- 
jects. A  measure,  such  as  the  Smith-Towner  bill  introduced  at 
the  last  session  of  Congress,  providing  federal  aid  for  general  school 
purposes,  will  go  even  further  in  this  direction.  Fully  as  import- 
ant as  federal  aid,  however,  is  the  consolidation  of  rural  schools 
and  the  reorganization  of  the  school  system  on  the  coimty  basis. 
Ell  wood  P.  Cubberley,  in  his  book  Public  Education  in  the  United 
States  points  out  that  educational  progress  has  been  confined  to 
city  schools,  and  that  this  is  due  to  the  capable  administrative 
leadership  made  possible  by  a  centralized  organization.  He  like- 
wise points  out  that  we  can  not  hope  for  success  in  our  rural  schools, 
nor  look  for  the  introduction  of  progressive  features  imtil  the  district 
system  is  abolished. 

'The  rural  and  village  schools  of  most  of  our  States, 
cut  off  by  law  from  securing  directive  oversight  from 
outside  the  county,  and  split  up  into  thousands  of 
little  imrelated  school  districts,  inspired  by  no  tmity 
of  purpose  and  animated  by  no  modem  conception  of 
educational  work,  have  gone  along  without  much 
change  since  the  days  of  the  sixties.  Too  often  the 
little  rural  school  stands  to-day  as  a  forlorn  and 
shrunken  landmark  of  what  used  to  be  an  important 
rural  social  and  educational  institution.^ 

The  school  must  again  become  the  center  of  rural  life.  Its 
work  should  be  carried  on  and  supervised  by  specially  trained  men 
and  women  acquainted  with  conditions  in  the  coimtry  and  able 
to  awaken  the  interest  not  only  of  the  children  but  of  their  families 
as  well.  The  average  rural  school  teacher  to-day  is  not  of  this 
type;  frequently  she  neither  imderstands  nor  is  interested  in  rural 
life,  and  is  not  prepared  to  develop  the  work  of  the  school  along  lines 
adapted  to  its  needs.      A  recent  study  of  the  preparation  of  rural 


^  Public  Education  in  the  U.  S. — EUwood  P.  Cubberley,  page  466. 

16 


school  teachers  in  Missouri  showed  that  from  87  to  90  per  cent  had 
not  studied  any  subjects  bearing  on  the  economic  and  social  prob- 
lems of  the  country  school;  over  50  per  cent  had  had  no  courses  in 
rural  school  methods  and  management,  and  29  per  cent  had  never 
studied  agriculture  in  their  professional  preparation,  although 
required  to  teach  it.^  When  the  school  has  taken  its  rightful  place 
in  the  community  its  service  will  be  recognized,  and  parents,  realiz- 
ing that  the  training  the  child  receives  in  school  is  of  far  greater 
value  than  the  limited  experience  he  gets  while  assisting  on  the 
farm,  will  come  to  co-operate  with  educational  authorities  in  enforc- 
ing attendance.  Farmers'  organizations  already  recognize  the  value 
of  education  and  are  emphasizing  its  importance  to  the  farmer, 
but  until  the  individual  farmer  also  is  converted,  he  must  be  com- 
pelled by  law  to  send  his  children  to  school. 

Theodore  Roosevelt  said,  ''Our  civilization  rests  at  bottom 
on  the  wholesomeness,  the  attractiveness  and  the  completeness 
as  well  as  the  prosperity  of  life  in  the  coimtry."  Whether  or  not 
country  life  shall  possess  these  characteristics  depends  upon  the 
amount  and  the  nature  of  the  education  which  farm  children  receive. 


Sixty-ninth  Report  of  the  Public  Schools  of  Missouri,  1918. 


17 


OTHER  RECENT  PUBLICATIONS 


Child  Welfare  in  Kentucky.  An  Inquiry  by  the  National 
Child  Labor  Committee  for  the  Kentucky  Child  Labor  Asso- 
ciation and  the  State  Board  of  Health,  under  the  direction 
of  Edward  N.  Clopper,  Ph.D.     Pp.  323.     Price,  $L25. 

Recreation  and  Child  Welfare.  By  Raymond  G.  Fuller. 
Reprinted  from  Child  Welfare  in  Kentucky.  Pp.  54.  Price, 
10  cents. 

Children  Who  Work  in  Our  Streets.  By  Ruth  Mclntire. 
Pp.  8.     Illustrated.     Price,  5  certs. 

Children  in  Agriculture.  By  Ruth  Mclntire.  Pp.  16.  Illus- 
trated.    Price,  10  cents. 

Children  of  the  Kentucky  Coal  Fields.  By  Mabel  Brown 
Ellis.     Pp.  70.     Illustrated.     Price,  25  cents. 

Child  Labor  and  the  New  Day.  By  Raymond  G.  Fuller. 
Pp.  8.     Single  copies  free. 

State  Laws  and  Minimum  Standards  for  Child  Protection. 
Compiled  by  Josette  Frank.     Pp.  8.     Single  copies  free. 

Fifteenth  Annual   Report.       By   Owen   R.    Lovejoy,    General 
Secretary,  National  Child  Labor  Committee.     Pp.  16. 

Farm  Labor  vs.  School  Attendance.  By  Gertrude  Folks. 
Pp.  16.     Price,  10  cents. 

People  Who  Go  to  Beets.  By  Theresa  Wolfson.  Pp.  24. 
Illustrated.     Price,  15  cents. 

Children  of  the  Kentucky  Coal  Fields.  By  Mabel  Brown 
Ellis.    Pp.  70.     Illustrated.    Price,  25  cents. 


18 


STATE   CHILD   WELFARE   STUDIES 

These  studies  cover  such  subjects  as  Public  Health,  Education, 
Dependency,  Juvenile  Delinquency,  Institutions,  Recreation,  Child 
Labor,  Agriculture,  and  Law  and  Administration.  They  are 
designed  to  show  existing  conditions,  to  further  cooperation  in  the 
different  fields  of  children's  v  ork  and  to  offer  suggestions  for  remedial 
and  preventive  effort.  They  are  constructive  in  spirit,  and  practical 
use  is  being  made  of  them  in  the  standardising  and  coordinating 
of  laws,  and  in  improving  administrative  machinery  and  methods. 


CHILD  WELFARE  IN  OKLAHOMA.    75  Cents. 

The  Oklahoma  survey  was  made  by  the  Committee's  staff  of 
specialists  at  the  invitation  of  the  University  of  Oklahoma  and 
was  conducted  by  Edward  N.  Clopper,  Ph.D.  Of  the  published 
volume  the  American  Economic  Review  says: 

"The  interesting  feature  of  the  report  is  that  it  proves,  intrinsically,  the  fact 
that  there  can  not  be  merely  one  point  of  view  concerning  anything  that  concerns 
child  welfare.  .  .  .  Public  health,  delinquency,  the  institutional  care  of 
children,  are  all  interdependent  fields  of  work,  bound  up  with  the  questions  of 
recreation,  mothers'  pensions,  and  poor  relief.  A  valuable  work  has  been  per- 
formed in  relating  these  problems  and  in  clearing  the  way  for  the  further  and 
more  eflFective  standardization  of  child  welfare  laws." 

CHILD  WELFARE  IN  ALABAMA.    $L00 

The  University  of  Alabama  cooperated  with  the  National 
Child  Labor  Committee  in  making  this  survey,  which  was  directed 
by  Dr.  Clopper. 

"It  is  a  very  exhaustive  report  and  is  full  of  interest  from  beginning  to 
end." — Birmingham  Age-  Herald. 

CHILD   WELFARE  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA.    $L00 

This  survey  was  made  for  the  North  Carolina  Conference  for 
Social  Service,  under  the  direction  of  W.  H.  Swift. 

"The  volume  forms  part  of  a  nation-wide  movement.  .  .  .  It  should 
form  a  good  basis  for  action  in  North  Carolina,  beside  throwing  light  on  the 
remedy  for  much  ineffectiveness  in  law-making  that  is  not,  unfortunately, 
peculiar  to  that  State." — The  Nation. 

According  to  The  Survey,  "This  study  of  North  Carolina  ...  is  perhaps 
the  most  telling  of  them  all,  because  it  deals  more  in  specific  instances  and  less 
in  generalities." 

CHILD  WELFARE  IN  KENTUCKY.    $1.25 

The  sub-title  reads:  "An  Inquiry  by  the  National  Child  Labor 
Committee  for  the  Kentucky  Child  Labor  Association  and  the 
State  Board  of  Health."  The  study  was  made  under  the  direction 
of  Edward  N.  Clopper,  Ph.D.,  by  specialists  in  various  fields  of  child 
welfare.  The  report  contains  chapters  on  "Health,"  "Schools," 
"Recreation,"  "Rural  Life,"  "Child  Labor,"  "Juvenile  Courts"  and 
"Law  and  Administration."     

These  volumes  should  be  in  every  library  containing  works  on 
sociology  and  economics.  They  are  of  special  value  to  social  workers, 
clergymen,  educators,  journalists,  legislators  and  administrators 
everywhere.  

HAS  YOUR  STATE   HAD  A  CHILD  WELFARE  SURVEY? 


NATIONAL    CHILD    LABOR    COMMITTEE 
105  East  22nd  Street       -    -       New  York  City 


Nattottal  (Eiixlh  ICabor  (HammXtttt 

StuarpamUh  to  Promote  iift  3nUrtttB  of  (ElfUiirett 
105  East  22d  Street,  New  York  City 


HONORARY  MEMBERS 


WOODROW  WILSON 


WILLIAM  H.  TAFT 


THE  STAFF 

OWEN  R.  LOVE  JOY General  Secretary 

EDWARD  N.  CLOPPER Assistant  Secretary 

JOSEPHINE  J.  ESCHENBRENNER    Membership  Secretary 


-SPECIAL  AGENTS 

pi  ^ 

j;ito   L.  i  .  BUSH     . 
EMMA  DUKE 
MABEL  BROWN  ELLIS 
GERTRUDE  FOLKS 
RAYMOND  G.  FULLER 
CHARLES  E.  GIBBONS 
H.  H.  MITCHELL,  M.D. 
W.  H.  SWIFT      . 


.  Child  Labor 

Statistical  Research 

Juvenile  Courts 

Schools 

Recreation,  Publicity 

.    Agriculture 

.  Health 

Law  and  Administration 


BOARD   OF  TRUSTEES 


FELIX  ADLER,  Chairman 

JANE  ADDAMS 

LEO  ARNSTEIN 

HENRY  BRUJiRE 

FRANCIS  G.  CAFFEY 

R.  J.  CALDWELL 

EDWARD  T.  DEVINE 

JOHN  DEWEY 

HOMER  FOLKS,  Vice-Chairman 

CHARLES  H.  FRAZIER 

WILLIAM  E.  HARMON 

L.  EMMETT  HOLT 

MRS.  AGNES  B.  LEACH 


WILLIAM  DRAPER  LEWIS 
ADOLPH  LEWISOHN 
SAMUEL  McCUNE  LINDSAY, 

Vice-Chairmaa 
V.  EVERIT  MACY,  Treasurer 
MRS.  BEVERLEY  B.  MUNFORD 
CHARLES  P.  NEILL 
HENRY  W.  THURSTON 
LILLIAN  D.  WALD 
PAUL  M.   WARBURG 
STEPHEN  S.  WISE 
JOHN   W.  WOOD 


ADVISORY  COMMITTEE 


Hooper  Alexander,  Georgia 
Mrs.  Emmons  Blaine,  Illinois 
John  Graham  Brooks,  Massachusetts 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  M.  Cohen,  Utah 
John  R.  Commons,  Wisconsin 
Mrs.  E.  P.  Costigan,  Colorado 
Mrs.  Josiah  Evans  Cowles,  California 
Mrs.  G.  W.  B.  Cashing,  New  Jersey 
Robert  W.  deForest,  New  York 
Harvey  H.  Durye'e,  California 
Charles  W.  Eliot,  Massachusetts 
Albert  H.  Freiberg,  Ohio 
Judge  Lincoln  Frost,  Nebraska 
James,  Cardinal  Gibbons,  Maryland 
John  M.  Gillette,  North  Dakota 
John  Golden,  New  York 
Jean  M.  Gordon,  Louisiana 
Alice  W.  Hunt,  Rhode  Island 
Frances  Ingram,  Kentucky 
Mrs.  Harry  January,  Missouri 
Mrs.  Edward  J.  Jeffries,  Michigan 


Governor  Thomas  E.  Kilby,  Alabama 

James  H.  Kirkland,  Tetmessee 

Julia  C.  Lathrop,  District  of  Columbia 

Frank  M.  Leavitt,  Pennsylvania 

A.  W.  McAlister,  North  Carolina 

Joseph  A.  McCullough,  South  Carolina 

Mrs.  J.  W.  McGriff,  Florida 

Mrs.  W.  L.  Murdoch,  Alabama 

Paul  S.  Peirce,  Iowa 

A^es  L.  Peterson,  Minnesota 

Gifford  Pinchot,  Pennsylvania 

Charles  S.  Potts,  Texas 

Mrs.  Bert  Schlesinger,  California 

Margaret  H.  Shearman,  Delaware 

Governor  Alfred  E.  Smith,  New  York 

Henry  G.  Snyder,  Oklahoma 

A.  T.  Stovall,  Mississippi 

Graham  Taylor,  Illinois 

Mrs.  Millie  R.  Trumbull,  Oregon 

U.  G.  Weatherly,  Indiana 

Robert  Treat  Whitehouse,  Maine 


Acting  with  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee 
L.  EMMETT  HOLT,  Chairman  LUCY  OPPEN 

OWEN  R.  LOVEJOY,  Secretary  LUCY  WOOD  COLLIER 

SALLY  LUCAS  JEAN,  Director  of  Field  Work  MARIE  L.  ROSE 


Associate 
Directors 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 

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JAN  0  9  2006 

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